View full sizeJennifer Brown/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie speaks and takes questions at a town hall meeting at Lake Riviera Middle School in Brick Tuesday.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday threw some cold water on a high-profile bill that would toughen requirements for teachers seeking tenure, suggesting it doesn’t go far enough a day after state lawmakers in both houses approved it unanimously.

At a town hall in Brick Township, Christie said he hasn’t decided whether he will sign the legislation. Seniority rights for teachers should be scrapped, the governor said, potentially delivering an unexpected roadblock just as the bill (S1455) neared the finish line.

Under current law, the newest teachers are the first to be laid off when budgets are cut, while the most senior teachers are the last to go.

"What happens, of course, as a result is that a lot of the younger and most enthusiastic teachers automatically get taken out," Christie told the audience of nearly 750. "Whether I sign it or I veto it, the bottom line is we have to get back to considering ‘last in, first out.’"

Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), the sponsor, left seniority rights unaltered to secure support from the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, which called the issue a "line in the sand" Tuesday.

"If you take away that provision, you open the way for complete political interference in public schools," said NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer. "If he says he’s going to veto the bill, that’s his business. We won’t have tenure reform, and that’s on him."

Ruiz declined comment Tuesday. She said two weeks ago that she wanted to address seniority, but "something I wanted had to be taken off the table so I could put forth a bill that would get passed and a bill that would get signed."

Until Tuesday, the governor and his administration had voiced support for Ruiz and worked on her bill behind the scenes. Lawmakers publicly expected him to sign it soon.

The bill would institute a new system of yearly evaluations for teachers and principals based in part on student test scores, something Christie also wants. Ruiz’s bill gives the Department of Education authority to approve the way schools grade their teachers, and the department would also develop model evaluation scorecards that most districts are expected to adopt.